Pureed Food Unneccesary

[bon]

what do they mean by 'pureed'. I mean, to me the pureed commercial baby food is a lot different to pureed home made food. Whenever I made my babies' food I would mash or blend it, so it was sort of pureed but it never looked anything like the thin watery stuff in baby food jars. I agree the ages on the commercial baby foods should be changed to reflect the new advice.

[mbear]

My decision NOT to feed my 3rd daughter solids until at least 6 months of age had some mothers shocked, and confused (at mothers group/swimming group). I felt i was disadvanting my little girl by not feeding her at 4 months like some others were.....why rush it ???

It doesn't hurt them to wait, they don't starve and they don't stop growing so for me its not worth the risk. They will be eating their entire lives no need to rush these things.

...totally agree.

[Zee]

DD didnt like pureed food anyway, she always liked hers lumpy etc so the baby food you can buy at the supermarket she wouldnt touch which was fine by me!

[fionas]

I just want to elaborate a little on my first post. I started my DD "early" because she seemed to want to. If I have another baby, I will start when they seem ready too - whether that's 5, 6, 9 or 10 months. If my baby wasn't ready at 6 months, there's no way I'd push it for the sake of it just because I thought she was behind what the guidelines said. I believe babies are clever creatures and they know when they're ready for something new.

BTW Astrid, I've been thinking about your post and what people would have done hundreds of years ago without spoons/other implements. And as I was feeding my DD and thought back to when I first started feeding her and how she would stare intently at me chewing, the first thing that occurred to me is that if I was a Viking woman, I probably would have chewed something up quite well and then given it to her. Sounds a bit gross by our standards but that's what I would have instinctively done. Kind of like what birds do with their young.

[Liz]

So what do we give them in the beginning? What about chewing properly so as not to choke? or is this where the 'real' age for solids becomes much later than we're led to believe?

I have to wait until DD is 6 months corrected, so that's 7 1/2 months and she's already watching me eat! LOL.

WRT soy - I thought soy was the reason that asians have a low incidence of cancer? (so many "studies" out there.. totally agree with moderation being the key with anything).

[fionas]

I would never dream of telling you when to start your child on solids Liz. I'm just saying I believe I knew when the time was right with my own DD. Every child is different - that's why I chose to ignore the guidelines and I treated the stuff about allergies with a pinch of salt. Some may think that was foolish - that's OK too - I'm prepared to take that risk because it honestly seemed cruel to me to deny her something that she obviously wanted so badly. Of course, it wasn't that she was just watching, she was trying to grab and she was much more restless/bored with her bottles. Added to that was her physical readiness - she swallowed no problem. If she hadn't I would have waited. But all those factors, not just one, made me give her solids.

She literally jumped up and down with excitement after a few goes with food and I so wish I'd videod her. She would giggle and headbutt the spoon in her fever to get to her food and her eyes became saucers. And she also seems much happier to have her bottles now too because it's not the only thing she's getting.

But if I was a Viking (I feel a tad silly writing that but just to answer your question...) and I thought it was going to be unsafe to give her some of my chewed up food, then obviously I'd wait a bit longer.

[Janie]

I haven't read through the whole article, or this thread, so I don't have a feel for the response. But I wanted to say that I went to the ABA seminar yesterday, and heard Gill speak. She also presented video footage. What she's talking about makes alot of sense to me as a mother, and this way of feeding really works in our household.

[Trillian]

I haven't read through the whole article, or this thread, so I don't have a feel for the response. But I wanted to say that I went to the ABA seminar yesterday, and heard Gill speak. She also presented video footage. What she's talking about makes alot of sense to me as a mother, and this way of feeding really works in our household.

I was talking about this with my MCHN last week and she went to that seminar and found it to be fascinating. I had already decided this was how we were going to do things (the biggest one being less work for me in having to puree the foods) and it just makes so much sense kwim? We had a huge chat about it - I'm really lucky that this time I got a MCHN that is aligned with my thoughts on things. Although we have only just started on solids late last week and it is cereal, I want him to get used to the idea of swallowing food. He has had an arrowroot biscuit and managed that fine, so I think by next week it will be onto the finger food. Although there will be some foods like my homemade vege soup that will be fed to him from a spoon - as he sits with his siblings and sees them eat soup from a spoon - there will always be some foods that need to be spoon fed if you want them to have it. So overall I am stoked with myself that I waited till 6mths this time as there is such a huge difference in development.

BTW - it has nothing to do with the age of the child for those defending their stance to introduce solids earlier than 6mths, but surely you can see how this all fits together - early infant milk feeding and then baby led solids is all linked together and it is a natural progression for them in their development to move from milk to finger fed solids. As for wether they will 'starve' or not, thats an individual thing, there will always be babies that need something more than what they are getting at some stage and yes, it is up to us as their parents to take that step, but we can't ignore the information we have about early solids and we have to be more aware and take that into account. The guidelines have come about from some serious and in-depth study and research about it and isn't just something 'made up' - unlike years ago when it was an advertising free-for-all and baby food companies could do and say what they liked.

[Liz]

It's just hard to shake the 'first foods' thing hehe. I have seen (perhaps Barb posted it?) it said that pureed food only became the norm because we were introducing 'solids' too early, and that's why it needed to be pureed. I just can't think of what else I would give as a first food, no matter what the age LOL.. don't they still need to learn to eat? Even if you wait until they're close to 12 months.. they still need to learn to chew and swallow. btw.. I don't like the really pureed stuff.. we started with mush more than anything.

Any examples of what to feed? I'd love to not have to prepare 'baby food' for DD! heheh

[~Saram~]

Well I wholly agree with that statement. I have never pureed Ari's food and she has developed a lot better eating habits. We would just give her what was on our plate, (we don't add butter or salt to our food so it was easy) little tastes of things from 5 mths off my finger and once she was 6-7 mths (as gross as it sounds) I would just either break up with my finger or give it a bit of a chew - kind of like a baby bird. She chews well, eats well, and is not fussy. The only thing she won't eat is the pureed stuff my MIL tried to give her :-)

It has made the intro of solids so much easier and cheaper

[Liz]

Yeah, DS was eating our food pretty early on, and to this day eats anything and everything - ALL DAY!! But I still did prepare baby food for him in the early days, mushed veggies frozen into ice cubes. Or cooked and mushed fruits. *shrug* Think I'll probably still do it for DD.. worked well with DS hehe. I can't imagine finger foods that early tho.

[Rouge]

I can totally see what you are saying fionas, however with Paris she was way more ready than Seth ever was, she was having 3 meals a day by the time she was 5 months and she was loving it. Yet she ended up with severe eczema and later at 4 asthma attacks. For me I wish I had known then what I do now. And yes there is a possibility it could have happened anyway but I would have put it off a few months on the off chance it would have helped.

[BellyBelly]

Cailin you will remember how Lijie started early too and we had all those probs with eczema patches (not as bad as paris), tummy probs and some sort of milk related reaction - green poo and stomach ache whenever he had milk. Rissy had nothing, and all she wanted was breastmilk thanks!

[monnie]

Felix didn't start solids until he was pretty much 6 months.

He's now coming up to 7 months and we are very much trying the finger food thing (rather than the purees).

But...I'm finding it really confusing as to what I can actually give him.

So far, we've tried:

banana
avocado
rusks
cooked pears
cooked apples

All the above foods have been given to him as finger food...about the size of a hot chip (sometimes a little smaller)...

Is that how you do it?

Anyone got any other suggestions of what I can give him?

Cheers!

[~Saram~]

Monnie

zuchinni cooked and cut into fingers is a good one
carrot and beans (well-overcooked) is good too
Strawberries in quaters, grapes in halves


Once he is a little older cheese sticks, meat, sandwiches in fingers

hmm can't think of any else at the moment

[monnie]

Thanks Saram

I'll try those ones...

[Matryoshka]

I have had a real struggle with my 20 month old who will not eat anything "lumpy" and still now has his dinner mashed It has been a long process of slowly going from puree'd food (all home made) to our dinners mashed, and still he will not eat finger food. By this i mean he would never pick up a vegetable or fruit and eat it, it must be mashed, or most recently cut in the the most minute pieces and hidden in a yoghurt or something else smooth.

I am definately looking at infant led weaning for this baby as i do wonder if DS's "texture issues" stem from the introduction of puree'd foods.

[Artechim]

My DS won't eat pureed food. He will put the first spoon in his mouth, spit it out, clamp his mouth shut and it is all over. However, he was grabbing at food I was eating and stuffing it in his mouth. So I am following his lead and feeding him finger foods. So far he has had banana, tomato wedges, chicken kebab, cheese, bread, pastry, quiche, capsicum, lettuce, potato, kumera, steak (couldn't gum any off though). He is far happier to eat things this way.

The first couple of days he was gagging if he put too much in his mouth but now he is biting off less and gumming/tonguing it to make it small enough to swallow. He hasn't choked on anything.